The only way to ensure that you will make it to the 10th floor of a Peckham multistorey car park, sans escalator, thereby not missing a single art installation on the way? Put a bar on the top. Genius. The genius in question is artist, Hannah Barry. The bar is run by an independent business man called Frank. Kat and I made the ascent to Frank’s Café and Campari Bar. Within 20 minutes Frank was speaking to us candidly about how he ended up at the top of a Peckham car park. Hannah Barry had approached him about setting up this 'pop-up cafe' and she, or rather her contacts, helped steer him through any troubled waters with local council, residents or alcohol license acquisition on his journey - Cllr. Lewis Robinson was a personal friend of Barry's and he had helped her find the space.Frank saw worth in painting the Heygate and talked about donning his overalls when the time came. He used to live opposite the Heygate and had also marveled at the sheer grandness of the building.
Would Hannah Barry see worth in such a project? In a word, no, said Frank. Not unless there is something in it for her. Bold Tendencies' (the name exhibition staged in this Peckham car park) proximitiy is right in the heart of the Peckham community but the art itself is not community based and similarly the takings in Frank's till are not Peckham pounds.
So perhaps our next question is how to turn the Heygate into a carrot that Hannah Barry wants to chomp down on hard.
